Process to manufacture large format aluminum bottles

ABSTRACT

A high speed manufacturing process for large format aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml) based on the DWI process that uses 3xxx can body stock with high recycled content. The process can include forming a bottle preform by redrawing, drawing and ironing, and doming a cup. The bottle preform formed by the process has a diameter of about 2.5″ to about 3.0″, a height of about 10.0″ to about 12.5″, a wall thickness of about 0.006″ to about 0.020″, and a dome depth of between about 0.400″ to about 1.00″.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/188,767 filed Jul. 6, 2015 and titled “Process to Manufacture Large Format Aluminum Bottles,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing large format aluminum bottles (up to 750 milliliters fill volume) using a high speed drawing and ironing (DWI) process.

BACKGROUND

Commercially, aluminum bottles are generally available in the 12 to 16 oz. size range. Examples of aluminum bottles include Aleco Evolution™, Rexam FUSION® and Bud Light® bottles. Currently, large format aluminum bottles made out of virgin or high recycled content 3xxx series aluminum alloys are not available in the market. Traditionally, most aluminum bottles are made using an impact extrusion (IE) process, which uses 1xxx series aluminum alloys. The IE process is low in terms of productivity and high in cost, thus limiting the large scale production of aluminum bottles.

SUMMARY

The terms “invention,” “the invention,” “this invention” and “the present invention,” as used in this document, are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this patent application and the claims below. Statements containing these terms should be understood not to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of the patent claims below. Covered embodiments of the invention are defined by the claims, not this summary. This summary is a high-level overview of various aspects of the invention and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification, any or all drawings and each claim.

Disclosed is a high speed manufacturing process for large format aluminum bottles (up to 750 milliliters (ml)) based on the DWI process using conventional 3xxx series can body stock. In some non-limiting cases, the 3xxx. series can body stock can have high recycled content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a side view illustration of an illustrative embodiment of a bottle container.

FIG. 2 is a side view illustration, in cross-section, of an illustrative example of a base portion of a bottle container.

FIG. 3A is a side view illustration, in cross-section, of an illustrative example of a neck portion of a bottle container.

FIG. 3B is a side view illustration, in cross-section, of an illustrative example of a neck portion of a bottle container.

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a direct redraw process according to an example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a reverse redraw process according to an example.

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a die-necking process using a knockout according to an example.

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of the top portion of a bottle with a threaded closure according to an example.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of the top portion of a bottle with a crown type closure according to an example.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed is a high speed manufacturing process for large format aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml) based on the DWI process using conventional 3xxx series can body stock. In some non-limiting examples, the can body stock includes high recycled content. In this cases, the recycled content may be at least 90% recycled content.

In one non-limiting example, a method for manufacturing large formation aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml) based on the DWI process uses standard AA3104 can body stock. However, in various other examples, other alloys that may be used in the manufacture of large formation aluminum bottles, include, but are not limited to, AA3003, AA3004, AA3105, AA3204, or other 3xxx series alloys.

Also disclosed are large format 3xxx series aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml), including, but not limited to, large format standard AA3104 aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml). The large formation aluminum bottles disclosed herein may be also include, but are not limited to, AA3003, AA3004, AA3105, AA3204, or other 3xxx series alloys.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one aspect, a large format bottle container 100 includes a base profile 102, a body portion 104, and a finish portion. The finish portion may include a complex long neck profile including neck portions 106, 108, and 110, and a straight wall transition portion 112 that extends to a lip portion 114. In various aspects, the lip portion 114 may have different shapes to accommodate a threaded closure or crown closure. The shaped aluminum bottle 100 may be used for products such as beverages including, but not limited to, soft drinks, water, beer, wine, energy drinks and various other beverages.

FIG. 2 illustrates the base profile 102 of the bottle container 100, which includes a dome 218. In various examples, to maintain sufficient dome reversal strength, the base profile 102, which can be a container bottom dome profile, may be formed with a combination of a number of spherical radii. In the example base profile 102 illustrated in FIG. 2, the base profile includes five spherical radii 208, 210, 212, 214, and 216. In some aspects, a depth of dome 218 may be from about 0.400 inches (″) to about 1.00″. To minimize or prevent damage during a neck forming process and from other forces being applied during threading, or during crown forming operation and liquid filling, all of which are described in greater detail below, the outer portion of the base profile 102 may include several radii such as 202, 204, and 206 shown in FIG. 2. In some aspects, the geometry may act as a transition to the body portion 104, such as a transition to a wall thickness of the body portion 104.

In one non-limiting example, three tools may be used to form the profile of the complex dome 218 at the base 102 from a preform. One such tool is a doming tool having a geometry of the radii 212, 214, and 216. A second such tool is an outer ring having a geometry of the radii 204, 206, and 208. A third such tool is a punch having a geometry of the radii 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 minus the sheet thickness. During the DWI process, the punch pushes the cup forward through an ironing tool to stretch and thin the preform wall. At the end of the punch forward stroke, the punch comes to meet the other dome forming tools (such as the doming tool and/or outer ring), thereby clamping the preform in between these three tools and forcing the metal to form the final shape as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 3A, in some examples, the neck profile may include a convex spherical dome portion 106, a concave spherical dome portion 108, and a neck portion 110. In various cases, the neck profile is slightly tapered upward towards the straight wall portion 112. In other examples, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, the concave spherical dome portion 108 can be replaced with a complex neck profile 304 having neck profile portions 306, 308, and 310 to form a large format bottle container 300. This section of the neck profile 304 can act as a necking load reduction and fill volume adjustment. This neck profile 304 may affect a length of a taper of a neck portion 302 of the container 300 depending on the design. As one non-limiting example, in some cases, a length of the neck portion 110 can be greater than the length of the neck portion 302, although it need not be.

As described above, in some aspects, a disclosed method for manufacturing large formation aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml) based on the DWI process uses conventional 3xxx series can body stock with high recycled content. In one aspect, a 3xxx series aluminum sheet having a gauge thickness ranging from about 0.0150″ to about 0.0250″ is used to blank out a disk and immediately draw into a cup. In the blanking and cupping process, an outer cutting tool first cuts the aluminum sheet into a disk. In some examples, the cut-out disk has a diameter ranging from about 7.0″ to about 10.0″ to provide sufficient material for large format aluminum bottles. After the disk is cut, an inner cup forming tool immediately draws the disk in to form a cup. In various aspects, the inner cup forming tool is controlled by a double action press, where a first action performs disk cutting and a second action performs cup forming in a continuous motion.

The cup produced by the blanking and cupping process has a fairly large diameter that may require further operation to reduce its size to a smaller diameter to facilitate subsequent operations. In various examples, the diameter reduction of the cup is accomplished by a redraw process. In some aspects, there are at least two types of redraw processes that can be used to reduce the diameter of the cup.

One redraw process is referred to as a direct redraw process, which is illustrated in FIG. 4. In the direct redraw process, a cup 402 is drawn from inside of a cup base by using similar cup forming tools to reduce its diameter and displace the material to form a redrawn cup 404 with a taller cup wall. Another redraw process is referred to as a reverse redraw process, which is illustrated in FIG. 5. In the reverse redraw process, the cup 402 is drawn from the bottom of the cup and metal is folded in an opposite direction to form the redrawn cup 404 with the taller cup wall. The method of manufacturing large formation aluminum bottles (up to 750 ml) should not be limited to either of these two redraw processes. In various examples, depending on machine requirements, limitations, and process requirements, multiple redraw processes or combinations of redraw processes may be performed.

The DWI process is a cylinder forming operation. In the DWI process, the redrawn cup is first drawn to a final bottle preform diameter. An ironing tool stretches and thins the cup wall to achieve a final preform wall thickness and length. At the end of DWI process, the dome 218 having a dome profile, which is illustrated in FIG. 2, can be formed through a doming operation.

In various examples, the final bottle preform may have a diameter ranging from about 2.5″ to about 3.0″, and be as tall as about 10.0″ to about 12.5″. In some aspects, the bottle preform may have a wall thickness ranging from about 0.006″ to about 0.020″. In some cases, the bottle preform may have a constant wall thickness of about 0.010″ to about 0.020″. In other cases, the bottle preform may have a variable wall thickness with a thicker portion at the top of about 0.010″ to about 0.020″ and a thinner portion in the middle of about 0.006″ to about 0.012″. The bottle preform may have other suitable thicknesses.

During the preform-forming process, an optional annealing operation may be performed to further improve metal formability. In some aspects, the annealing operation is performed at a temperature ranging from about 100° C. to about 400° C. at a duration ranging from about 1 minute to about 3 hours. In certain cases, the annealing process may have a duration ranging from about 1 hour to about 3 hours. In other cases, the annealing process may range from about 1 minute up to about 30 minutes. In various aspects, this operation may be performed during aluminum sheet production or during one or more preform production steps. In some aspects, the annealing process may be applied locally to a specific portion of the preform. In these examples, the local annealing may be performed by direct flame heating, by electro-magnetic induction heating, or by various other suitable methods. As one non-limiting example, the annealing process may be applied to a neck portion of a bottle, to a body portion of the bottle, to a base portion of the bottle, or any combination thereof. As another non-limiting example, the annealing process may be applied to selective portions of the aluminum sheet before it is processed into a preform. In these examples, a gradient of mechanical properties is induced along the height of the sidewall of the preforms. In other examples, the annealing process may be applied as an intermediate step in necking and shaping progression operations. This process is not a commonly known process in the can making industry.

The preforms are then subjected to various bottle shape forming and finishing operations to produce the final bottle shape. In various cases, the forming and finishing can be accomplished in either a one-step operation or a multi-step operation running in sequence employing commercially available machines.

One exemplary process of mechanical bottle shaping is die-necking of the preform, which is partially illustrated in FIG. 6. In the die-necking process, a bottle preform 600 is shaped in multiple steps by a succession of specially designed necking dies 602. Although only one necking die 602 is illustrated in FIG. 6, any number of necking dies 602 can be utilized in the die-necking process. The dies 602 are pushed onto the preform 600 from the top in an axial direction. Each successive die 602 comprises a smaller internal diameter than the preceding die 602, thus incrementally shaping the preform 600 into the outline of a bottle. In various cases, necking may include multiple stages such that the reduction in diameter per stage is in the range of approximately 2% to approximately 3%, although it need not be in various other examples. The total number of necking stages is defined by the initial preform diameter and the desired neck diameter. An internal tool, sometimes referred to as a knockout 604, is used to prevent material instabilities, such as wrinkling or pleating, during forming. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a die-necking process using the knockout 604.

Other exemplary processes of bottle shaping are one-state and multi-stage pneumatic blow forming. In the blow forming process, the preform is placed into a mold, which has a mold-cavity representing the negative of the desired bottle shape. The open end of the preform is then sealed, and the preform is pressurized with compressed air or gas such that the preform expands to fill the mold cavity and take on the shape of the mold.

In other aspects, a bottle closure type may be either a threaded closure, a cork closure, a crown closure, or various other types of bottle closures. Referring to FIG. 7, the top portion of the bottle intended for a threaded closure may include a curled feature at the top 701, a threaded portion 702, and a recessed bead feature 703 below the thread to accommodate an aluminum cap with a tamper evidence feature.

The threaded portion 702 may be created or formed using a rotating eccentric thread shaper that includes an internal and external tool arrangement. The curled feature above the thread may be created or formed using multiple rotating rollers pressed onto the bottle from the top. The bead feature below the thread may also be created or formed using an eccentric rotating tool arrangement, or may be created beforehand in the bottle shaping process.

Referring to FIG. 8, in some examples where the top portion of the bottle is intended for a crown type closure, the top portion may have a single curled feature 801 that may be created or formed by a one-step or multiple-step process including rotating rollers of various shapes.

All patents, publications and abstracts cited above are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The foregoing relates only to preferred embodiments of the present invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention. 

1. A method of making an aluminum bottle comprising the sequential steps of: obtaining an aluminum sheet of a series 3xxx alloy having a gauge thickness ranging from about 0.0150″ to about 0.0250″; blanking out a disk having a diameter ranging from about 7.0″ to about 10.0″; forming the disk into a cup; forming a bottle preform by redrawing, drawing and ironing, and doming the cup; wherein the bottle preform comprises: a diameter of about 2.5″ to about 3.0″; a height of about 10.0″ to about 12.5″; a wall thickness of about 0.006″ to about 0.020″; and a dome depth of between about 0.400″ to about 1.00″.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wall thickness comprises a constant wall thickness of about 0.010″ to about 0.020″.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wall thickness comprises a variable wall thickness with a thicker portion at the top of about 0.010″ to about 0.020″ and a thinner portion in the middle of about 0.006″ to about 0.012″.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising an annealing step at a temperature of about 100° C. to about 400° C. prior to necking and finishing operations.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a bottle shape forming operation, wherein the bottle shape forming operation comprises at least one of necking or blow forming to produce a final bottle shape.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising mechanically shaping a threaded, corked, or crowned bottle closure after the bottle shape forming operation.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3xxx alloy is an AA3104 alloy.
 8. A bottle preform comprising: an AA3xxx aluminum alloy; a diameter of about 2.5″ to about 3.0″; a height of about 10.0″ to about 12.5″; a wall thickness of about 0.006″ to about 0.020″; and, a dome depth of between about 0.400″ to about 1.00″.
 9. The bottle preform of claim 8, further comprising a base profile, a body portion, and a finish portion.
 10. The bottle preform of claim 9, wherein the finish portion comprises a complex long neck profile, a straight wall transition portion, and a lip portion, wherein the lip portion is continuous with the straight wall transition portion.
 11. The bottle preform of claim 10, wherein the lip portion is threaded or crowned.
 12. The bottle preform of claim 8, wherein the 3xxx alloy is an AA3104 alloy.
 13. A method of making an aluminum bottle comprising: providing an aluminum sheet of a series 3xxx alloy having a gauge thickness ranging from about 0.0150″ to about 0.0250″; forming a cup from the aluminum sheet with a double action press that cuts and draws the aluminum sheet in a single, continuous motion; forming a bottle preform by redrawing, drawing and ironing, and doming the cup; wherein the bottle preform comprises: a diameter of about 2.5″ to about 3.0″; a height of about 10.0″ to about 12.5″; a wall thickness of about 0.006″ to about 0.020″; a dome depth of about 0.400″ to about 1.00″; and forming a final bottle shape from the bottle preform.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein forming the bottle preform by redrawing comprises reverse redrawing.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising forming a curled feature at an open end of the final bottle shape.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising forming a threaded portion and a recessed bead at the open end of the final bottle shape.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein forming the final bottle shape from the bottle preform comprises die necking with a knockout.
 18. The method of claim 13, further comprising annealing the aluminum sheet or the bottle preform at a temperature of about 100° C. to about 400° C.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the annealing has a duration of about 1 minute to about 3 hours.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the annealing has a duration of about 1 hour to about 3 hours.
 21. The method of claim 18, wherein the annealing has a duration of about 1 minute to about 30 minutes.
 22. The method of claim 18, wherein the annealing is applied only to a portion of the aluminum sheet or the bottle preform. 